WAIROA.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3534, 4 November 1882, Page 2

WAIROA.

(from our own correspondent.)

October 31, 1882

Tbe blockade imposed on us by the shingle barrier in front of our river has had such a depressing effect on the mind of your correspondent that I was unable last week to muster up courage to drop you a " par "or two. The Gordian knot has been cut—l mean the bar is now passable—so I resume my weekly lacubrations.

Apropos of the bar. There are people who aver that he is but " crying stinking fish " who hints that the bar is a bar to our progress, and wants looking after. I don't believe in letting sleeping dogs lie, just because it pleases a few people to see the bar remain as it is. In common with many in the rauks of the party of progress I believe that the Wairoa bar is as bad as bad can be ; that its utterly unreliable condition is keeping the district back; that an improvement can be effected at a fairly moderate cost, and, lastly, the sooner the improvement is effected the better. Everytime " the bar at the Wairoa" gefs blocked the little world of Hawke's Bay knows it, so it ia no use trying to hide the fact. Whea the entrance is shut up a positively painful expression may be seen on most people's faces. I consider that every time a regular blockade occurs the district is thrown back a year. Tbe bar is therefore a detriment— the one detriment to our progress—and I consider the people of this district deserve every credit for the manner in which they brave the disheartening state of our entrance. Instead of decrying our town, district, and people for our want of energy and progress, rather put it down to the account of the obnoxious bar.

There seems now gome prospect that the requirements of the district in respect to harbor works will be plainly stated. Mr Rolleston has given a promise to the effect that if the work can be done at anything like a reasonable cost the Government will consider the proposal. Mr Saunders (of Napier) is now engaged inspecting the river and entrance with a view to devising a plan for improving the mouth at a moderate cost. I learn that Mr Saunders is not only convinced that a great improvement can be effected at a moderate cost, but is more than favorably impressed with the district as a whole. " Yours truly" does not lay claim to any engineering knowledge, but I am quite certain that training banks on either side of the river to direct the flow of water in one permanent direction is all that will be required for years to come. When we ask for harbor works those who sit in high places fancy we want to get the Rotomahana inside. As a rule the bar is good eight months out of the year, and all we want is the expenditure of sufficient money to keep open an entrance deep enough for the p.s. Manaia to navigate with safety. Enough on this head.

As the Government auditor—a heavenborn official—will not pass any accounts for sums spent in opening the bar, and as the Harbor Board ha 9 no funds to work on, a subscription list was opened to defray the cost, and a sum of £16 raised. The total cost will be about £20.

A newspaper to hand by the mail from Auckland brings news of the death of Archibald Ferguson, which event took place at the Whau lunatic asylum on the Ist instant. Mr Ferguson was tor many years a resident of this district, having been in business as butcher with a man named Holliman (now dead). He had been residing in the Bay of Islands for several years, and twelve months ago became insane, and was confined in the Whau asylum, where he died.

On Monday Mr Saunders, the Napier Harbor Board engineer, and Mr H. J. Williams, secretary of the Wairoa Harbor Board, went up the river in the s.s. Echo to examine the river with a view to preparing specifications for the work of clearing snags, etc., which will be commenced as soon as possible. The " bread and butter dance " in the County Hall on Friday night in aid of the Mechanics' Institute fund was not so well attended as on former occasions. The proceeds amounted to nearly £5. The Wairoa Cricket Club play a match at Mohaka on the 9th of November. It is quite on the cards that tbe county town men will be beaten, as several good players will be unable to go. The Yen. Archdeacon Williams arrived here on Monday from Napier, and will remain a week.

Mr W. Moloney, of North Clyde, has taken out an auctioneer's license for this county. A concert in aid of the library will be held at Mohaka on November 9th.